THE EMORY WHEEL
NEWS
Tuesday, April 23. 2013
THANK DOOLEY IT’S DUC DAY
Speakers Discuss Clinical Depression, Kindness Continued from Page 1 TED is a non-profit organization that fuses components from technology, entertainment and design at conferences around the world to foster innovation and dialogue. TEDx events are independently organized, and their objective is to simulate a TED conference experience. While they must follow the rules and regulations of TED, they are self-organized. College freshman and TEDxEmory Online Media & Marketing Team member Chandler Wald said TEDxEmory thought of around 55 individuals they were inspired by or people they knew. The list of speakers was then narrowed down based on who TEDxEmory members were most interested to hear and who was available, according to Wald. This year, TEDxEmory partnered with the Emory Alumni Association to bring in speakers, according to College senior and TEDxEmory Director of Operations Jonathan Katzner. The event started off with Dr. Larry Young, the Chief of the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatric Disorders at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Young’s research tests the effects of oxytocin and vasopressin, two hormones that are released in the brain, on monogamous relationships and love. Every year, Emory hosts a student
speaker competition. This year’s winner, College senior and first-year student at the Rollins School of Public Health Hugh Green, introduced the audience to smart cities, which have sustainable economic development. He cited Masdar in the United Arab Emirates as an example, which is a zero-carbon, zero-waste city. As TED’s objective is to spread ideas that relate to modern society, two of the speakers discussed what they referred to as a disease of civilization: clinical depression. Lynn Garson (’81L) explained her 30-year battle with depression and other mental disorders and encouraged the audience to be more conscious of mental illness, especially to suppress the negative stigma around it by eliminating phrases like “that’s crazy” from their vernacular. Many of the audience members were familiar with TEDtalks. “I watch a lot of TED videos all the time, but this is my first event,” College senior Kristen Tassini said. The audience consisted of Emory students, faculty, members of the Atlanta community and people from surrounding areas. E.P. Stallworth, a junior at Birmingham-Southern College (Ala.), is a long-time TED fan and drove two and a half hours to Emory because it was the closest TEDx event to her. “I have loved TED forever,” Stallworth said. “The inner nerd inside of me is jumping up and down.” Some of the speakers delivered speeches that encouraged people to
take action. Jamie Grant, a magician who is featured in “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” for putting a sealed deck of cards into a glass bottle, leaves these bottles with inspirational messages at random locations for people to find and keep. Grant emphasized the importance of going out of your way to do kind acts for other people. “Random acts of kindness are a complete waste of time,” Grant said, explaining that kindness should be specific and have focus. Film director and photographer Harun Mehmedinović spoke about his experience growing up in wartime Bosnia. He explained that he felt like he was living more in the moment when his life was in danger than when he moved to the United States. Mehmedinović encouraged the audience to live in the moment. “Any time you look at the watch you’re not living in the present,” he said. Along with live speakers, videos from TED conferences were shown, including Neil Harbisson, a colorblind man who uses a device that is connected to his brain which translates color into sound frequencies to understand the world around him. The program was hosted by Josh Levs, a former CNN broadcast journalist and a previous TEDxEmory speaker. “We were fortunate to have a lot of great speakers,” Katzner said.
— Contact Rupsha Basu at rupsha.basu@emory.edu
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Liqi Shu/Staff
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he Dobbs University Center (DUC) held “Thank Dooley It’s DUC Day” on Friday from 12 to 5 p.m. in the Coca-Cola Commons. The event included games, cake, prizes and a photo booth, as well as food from Tin Lizzy’s Cantina and Mirko Pasta.
Error Affects Less Than Two Percent of Applicants Continued from Page 1 invited wait-listed students to attend various “Choose Emory” admitted student receptions across the country, according to Daniel Creasy, the director of communications in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. The email error affected less than two percent of the overall applicant pool, Creasy said. This amounts to about 350 students. “These invites were sent to admitted students in these four regions, but unfortunately, due to a technical glitch, the invite was also received by a small number of wait-listed students,” Creasy wrote in an email to the Wheel. The first email was sent to stu-
dents around 4 p.m. on April 5. The beginning of the email, which was forwarded to the Wheel by Jones, read: “Congratulations once again on your admission to Emory University! Out of a record applicant pool, we’ve chosen YOU to join the Class of 2017 because of your involvement in your school and community, stellar academic accomplishments, and potential to impact our campus.” The Office of Undergraduate Admission sent out a clarification and apology to those not admitted following the initial email six hours later. The apology email read: “On behalf of Emory University, I would like to apologize for the email you received earlier today inviting you to our Choose Emory admitted student
events. This message was intended for admitted students only, but unfortunately, due to a technical oversight, an additional group of applicants also received the message.” Jones explained that she was very confused by the offer and that she was initially upset by the accident. Emory admissions counselors received a few follow-up phone calls from students who had received the email, but the situation was then clarified, according to Creasy. “All systems have glitches, but that is damaging emotionally especially for someone who is dead set on Emory and didn’t get in in the first place,” Jones said.
— Contact Dustin Slade at dpslade@emory.edu